Fantasy Baseball: 4 Pitchers To Stream for Week 8

J.C. Ramirez, Los Angeles Angels

Starts: May 22nd at Tampa Bay Rays, May 27th at Miami Marlins

ESPN ownership: 15 percent

The transition from bullpen to rotation has thus far been a relative breeze for Los Angeles Angels righty J.C. Ramirez, who has chiseled the 4.41 ERA on his record over the past year-plus as a reliever to a respectable 3.80 mark over his first appearances as a starter, with a 3.71 fielding independent pitching (FIP) to assure us that this is no fluke.

With a near-eight K/9 and a nasty grounder-inducing cutter that's limited hitters to a .273 OPS across 100 offerings, it's a bit surprising that Ramirez's ownership remains so low in the alarmist starting pitcher environment.

That shouldn't last for long, though, as Ramirez is set to square off against a Rays team that has whiffed at a hair-raising clip in 2017, leading the majors in swinging strike rate and overall strikeout rate, both by a country mile.

Ramirez is in for a soft landing as the Angels visit the cavernous Marlins Park next weekend. Sure, Miami has slugged their fair share of late, with strong hard-contact and team-wide isolated slugging (ISO) rates over the past two weeks. They've also pounded the ball into the ground a ton, boasting the fourth-highest ground ball percentage in the majors over that span, a tendency that Ramirez would be wise to exploit with his wicked cutter.